Daniel Omielanczuk accepts no-fault finding from USADA in meldonium case, doesn't face suspension

More than a year after he was first tested, it appears there is some closure to UFC heavyweight Daniel Omielanczuk’s meldonium saga with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

This past July, Omielanczuk was notified by USADA that a drug test he had taken turned up positive for meldonium. But because the World Anti-Doping Agency recently had issued new guidelines for handling positive results for the drug, Omielanczuk was kept on that month’s UFC Fight Night 91 card in South Dakota against Alexey Oleinik.

Today, USADA announced that Omielanczuk has accepted a no-fault finding for the violation, which the organization said came from an out-of-competition urine sample he provided all the way back on Jan. 21, 2016. USADA said it determined Omielanczuk ingested it “without fault or negligence in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) guidance concerning meldonium.”

In April 2016, WADA made an announcement explaining situations in which punishment may be stayed in event of a positive test for meldonium. According to those guidelines, Omielanczuk remained eligible for punishment if USADA determined he took the drug after Jan. 1, 2016, when it became a banned substance in the category of Hormone and Metabolic Modulators.

But in today’s statement, USADA said its investigation concluded Omielanczuk took it before it was banned, and ceased its use when informed it would soon be part of the prohibited list.

“During USADA’s investigation of the case, Omielanczuk presented evidence establishing that his use of meldonium was limited to a three-week span, from mid-August to early September 2015,” the USADA statement reads. “Omielanczuk and his advisors confirmed that Omielanczuk did not resume his use of the substance after September 2015 because they became aware that the substance would be added to the WADA Prohibited List in 2016, and subsequently banned under the UFC Anti-Doping Program.

“After a thorough review of the case, USADA concluded that the extremely low meldonium concentration in the athlete’s urine sample, combined with the available documentary evidence and the athlete’s explanation of use, was consistent with ingestion prior to the substance being officially prohibited on January 1, 2016.”

And because of that, he is in the clear and will not face a suspension. That means Omielanczuk (19-6-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC) will continue on toward his next booked matchup against Timothy Johnson (10-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 107, which takes place March 18 at The O2 in London. The entire event streams on UFC Fight Pass.

Omielanczuk, from Poland, will be trying to get back on track after he had a three-fight winning streak snapped by Stefan Struve at UFC 204 this past October. Struve stopped him with a second-round D’Arce choke in Manchester, England. Prior to that, he had a majority decision win over Oleinik at UFC Fight Night 91, a technical decision over Jarjis Danho in February 2016, and a first-round TKO of Chris De La Rocha in July 2015.

The UFC Fight Night 107 lineup includes:

• Corey Anderson vs. Jimi Manuwa
• Henry Briones vs. Brad Pickett
• Leon Edwards vs. Vicente Luque
• Marc Diakiese vs. Teemu Packalen
• Oluwale Bamgbose vs. Tom Breese
• Scott Askham vs. Brad Scott
• Francimar Barroso vs. Darren Stewart
• Joseph Duffy vs. Reza Madadi
• Lina Lansberg vs. Veronica Macedo
• Timothy Johnson vs. Daniel Omielanczuk
• Arnold Allen vs. Makwan Amirkhani
• Ian Entwistle vs. Brett Johns

For more on UFC Fight Night 107, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.